A slightly different take on the sport

What an amazing lap – a piece of Hamilton genius

Well, it’s all been sinking in. No-one expected a 1′ 36″ when Lewis suddenly pulled it out of the bag in qualifying – his 79th career pole position, fourth at the Marina Bay Street Circuit and seventh of the 2018 Formula One season. It may well be the pole that seals the championship.

Said the man himself: “That lap just started perfect and it just kept going – it felt magical. It felt like one of the best – if not the best lap I’ve ever done. It’s what my brother and me would call a ‘sexy lap’. I only had that one lap in me today, I just couldn’t go any faster afterwards.

“This track is all about confidence, confidence in your braking points and the stability of the car, you only have a few laps to build your steps towards it. As soon as you lose it, it’s very hard to build back up to it. So I’m grateful that I had the extra two laps on the HyperSofts in Q2 as I could try and understand the tyre a bit more. In Q3, it really felt like each corner was on the limit, but no more, I didn’t have any wheel spin or any of that.

“I think the races have generally been quite strong for me this year, so I hope this will continue tomorrow. I’m going to work hard tonight to make sure the start is good. After that it will be all about looking after the tyres. Making the HyperSofts last long won’t be easy, but we’re all in the same boat, so it should be interesting.

“The Ferraris and the Red Bulls in particular had good long-run pace, so we have a fight on our hands tomorrow. But I’m just so grateful that we did a better job today and so grateful for the support from everyone in the team today. This journey that I’m on with Mercedes and the entire team is just a remarkable experience.”